Thorns of the Rose
by Norberting
Summary: What if Beast had never found Belle? What would happen to him when his 21st birthday came around? Fanfiction from Beast/Adam's perspective of the story, without the normal ending. currently rated K, I don't expect to need to write anything beyond that
1. Introduction

Adam couldn't help but stare at his rose. It was haunting his every thought, he couldn't go far from it without wondering "what if another petal has fallen?". When it did, he was suddenly flooded with dread and bleak questions. How long now? Am I doomed forever? He'd stand there, watching helplessly as the petal would slowly sink towards the ground. For some reason, he seemed to believe that watching the rose all the time would help him rid his curse somehow. In fact, he wasn't all that releaved when a rose petal didn't fall, because he was still on edge. It wasn't like Adam wanted to stay in this horrifying and uncomfortable form, but he didn't like waiting for something to happen either.

Adam had been born on Christmas Eve, he was the son of the King and Queen of a once prosperous kingdom. When Adam was 2 years old, his parents were assassinated by a group of rogues while travelling back home from a neighbouring Kingdom. Their Kingdom was put in the charge of a small council of Lords until Adam was 21 years old, at which point he could rightfully take the throne. However, when Adam was 10, he was put under a terrible curse along with all his castle. The curse also came with a few other affects, the Kingdom forgot about its Prince and ended up ruling itself for the duration of the curse. Had the curse been lifted, the Kingdom would've regained memory of its Prince, and most likely rejoice. Unforunatly, Adam's 21st birthday drew nearer, with no hope of the curse being lifted and the Kingdom was doomed to never see its Prince again.


	2. Chapter 1

It was the start of December, and any hope Adam had once had was now gone. His curse had left him with far too much time with his thoughts, too much time to think about what everything all meant. He soon began to regret what he'd once been, as he really did see his beastly form as a reflection of his attitude. Despite what he thought of himself, he still couldn't help but feel anger towards the Enchantress. When he was cursed he was only ten years old, and his parents had been lost for a few years. He wondered if the Enchantress was meerly turning him into a Beast before his actions made him one anyway.

Despite all of this thinking, he was still as cold as ever on the outside. Even if a kind hearted woman came in, there was no way she'd fall for such a cold and cruel man. He knew this all too well, and this was the reason he'd kept himself locked in his room for most the time. He hated how he treated his servants. The problem was, he couldn't stop himself from treating them so cruely. His cold and hard shell protected him from the pain that he felt inside. Above all he also felt guilty, guilty for what he'd done to his servants mostly. At first he didn't care, he just wanted to solve this problem for his own good. After time, he soon saw that they were hiding their pain just as much as he was. He would hear them murmering, crying. Telling themselves and him the same lie over and over again, that they would all be back to normal any day soon. They all knew the truth. So after seeing all the pain that he had brought to the people who had pratically raised him, Adam soon felt guilty over it all. At first he'd tried to ignore it, not caring all that much for the feelings of anyone but himself, but after time he soon began to pity them. He hated what had happened to himself, but that was mostly caused by himself. These people had been cursed because of him, and that was something he couldn't live with. It wasn't until that early December that Adam finally decided to open up to his closest servants.

Adam stared at the ornate wooden door of his room. Claw marks ran down the front of it, reminders of his ongoing pain and suffering. A small breeze from the balcony behind him caused his hairs to stand on edge, but it didn't bother him all that much. He was far too concentrated on the door. Reaching his overgrown paw towards it, he swallowed nervously as he contemplated what he was about to do. He wasn't usually like this, he was usually so open if someone had annoyed him or gotten in his way. This was different, these weren't people that got in his way, not really, these were the people who had raised him. Unfortunatly, Adam didn't know much about how to thank people, or just politeness in general. So when he wanted to be nice, it wasn't easy. Swallowing the pride that had been pratically ingrained in him since birth, he opened the door which led to the West Wing, and headed onwards, in search of his servants.


	3. Chapter 2

Adam ventured down the empty West Wing, which the servants had long deserted in fear of their own safety. He had to walk a long distance in order to find anyone, and it was hard to keep willing himself forwards. In all honesty he could've just called them over, but for some reason that idea just didn't seem right. He didn't know much about apologies, but he had a feeling that forcing someone to come over to listen to one just didn't seem like a good start. He tried not to look around at the destruction that was the West Wing, every broken chair was a reminder of how terrifying he could be, and every dusty corner was a reminder of how his servants feared him.

Soon he found himself at the grand staircase, and he couldn't help but remember the days when he was younger. Things were a lot different back then, for starters it had been a lot more grand, the curse had somehow affected the castle too. Gargoyles stared at him from pillars overhead, he didn't remember having that many gargoyles around when he was young, not that he payed much attention. He also seemed to remember a lot more servants running up and down the stairs back then, the servants now took their sweet time, sculling about the place; some didn't even show up at all. If there were any servants here right now, they were probably hiding from him, the thought of it made him feel worse about himself. He knew that they were right in hiding from him, so as he walked past he said nothing, did nothing, and just walked on.

His mind raced away, thinking about the things that hurt him the most, and soon he realized something quite significant. He hadn't shouted at someone for a good while, it was strange. Shouting was so natural to him that he barely noticed when he'd shouting. Not until until he'd stopped and his throat was left tense from the sudden strain. The reason he hadn't shouted was probably because he'd barely spoken at all. On that note he'd barely eaten at all, at least not since December had arrived. Though knowing he hadn't shouted for some time made him feel a little better, knowing his servants hadn't suffered all that much. He hadn't had much of an opportunity to talk to servants anyway, nobody had come to see him in his room for a while.

The last servant who came to him uninvited was Lumiere, this was a week ago, or at least it felt like a week to Adam. Lumiere had burst into his room, begging his Master to go out, saying it was his only hope now at finding someone to love. Adam had roared at him fiercely, and went to attack the poor man, but Lumiere came to his senses and disappeared from sight. Even Lumiere feared him at his worst, and so had the sense not to push him any further. Lumiere had probably decided there was no hope left for his Master, and so decided to stay away even after Adam had calmed down. It was strange that Cogsworth hadn't visited either; perhaps even he had given up. He wouldn't hate them if they had; he'd given up on himself years ago.

He was standing by another door now, this was the door to the dining hall, and the kitchen was just beyond it, and just as he'd been terrified to open his bedroom door, this door was just as daunting to him. This time he didn't hesitate so long, and decided to swing the door open quickly, and his plan was just to head to his destination quickly too. Unfortunately for Adam, he had just swung the door straight into one of his servants who must've been trying to head out. He stopped the door as soon as he'd heard the "clunk" noise. He stood silently for a moment before peering around the door. He had expected to see just some maid or something, someone who would just run away and leave him be. Sadly, the voice he heard belonged to someone he actually wanted to see.

"M-Master!" Cogsworth stammered, shocked to see him. "I am terrible sorry that the dining room isn't prepared for you, we didn't know you were coming and-"

"Enough Cogsworth!" Adam commanded, a little more forcibly than he'd wanted to, he was just afraid the man would just carry on for days. "I'm… not here to eat."

Cogsworth looked at him, completely bewildered. If his Master had not come to eat, what on earth could he want in the dining hall? "I- ehem. Is there anything I can do for you then Master?"

"Yes-" Adam began to say, scratching at the back of his head nervously. "I mean, no-I mean… just … JUST follow me!"

He didn't even wait for Cogsworth's reply; he just led the way down to the kitchens. He had been struggling so much with what to say, that he didn't even think about what he was saying, he was just happy he'd spoken. The sensible thing was to demand where the other servants were right now, but Adam had been too tangled in his words to care about the sensible thing, and besides, he was too proud to change his mind. He pondered whether he should've said something polite, like thank you or something similar, but shrugged the thought off; it was far too late now.

As Adam led him to the kitchens, Cogsworth was even more confused by his Master. "Master, is something wrong?"

"No." Adam quickly snapped, and that was the end of the conversation.

The kitchens certainly weren't a place Adam had been to before, nor had he ever expected to see the inside of it. When he was younger he'd heard of serving boys who would sneak into the kitchen and steal treats, but Adam was allowed whatever treat he'd ever wanted, and so he had no need for sneaking into kitchens. Now he was actually here, and the servants around him suddenly stopped, even the usually loud stove was silenced by his entrance. Cogsworth simply stayed silent at his Master's side, without a clue as to what was going on.

He couldn't help but pause to look around, it was a strange place to him. The kitchen seemed to be the least gloomy place in the castle, and the cobwebs seemed to be fewer here. He saw all the fancy dining ware he ate from, stacked neatly into piles, sleeping silently, unaware of their Master's presence. The stove just stood silently in the corner, peering now and again at the pot brewing on him. Adam could see spoons and cooking utensils staring at him too, though as soon as he met their gaze they would go running into their cupboards and draws, as if they were meant to be there at all times.

"Mrs. Potts?" Adam called loudly, grunting. He was trying not to sound so forceful, but it was hard for him, his call for her sounded as strained as he was right now.

"Chip, stay there for a moment," he heard her firmly say to her son. "Don't worry, I shan't be long." Then he heard the clinking on the floor as she hopped on over, even she looked surprised at him being there.

"Is something wrong Master?" She asked immediately.

He grunted again, "why does something _have_ to be wrong?" He asked this, despite not being too sure himself if everything was OK.

"Well Master, it's not every day I see you here in the kitchens!" Mrs. Potts told him cheerfully.

Adam huffed, ignoring the comment. "Where is Lumiere?"

There was a pause, and then Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth exchanged a look, not saying a word.

"_Where_ is Lumiere?" he growled, not liking their hesitance at his question.

Cogsworth spoke first, "heh, you see Master, the thing is-" he paused, not sure how to explain himself.

"You see Master; Lumiere was a bit concerned about you…" Mrs. Potts added, trying to help Cogsworth out.

"He… may have gone out in hope of finding a lady for you…" Cogsworth spoke nervously and quietly, almost not wanting his Master to hear.

"He WHAT?" Adam couldn't hold back his temper this time, even thought he'd tried so hard to sound gentle.

"I tried to stop him sir!" Cogsworth pleaded desperately. "I tried to convince him but no. You know what he's like Master!"

The two stepped back from Adam, they were expecting him to throw the nearby stool at them, but Adam remained still. "Which way did he go?" Adam asked snappishly.

"Thr-through the front entrance, northwards." Cogsworth told him, a little relieved that there was no object flying at him right now, but still highly terrified of his Master..

Adam quickly turned from the two, and began to head out of the kitchen. When he was in the doorway, he heard Mrs Potts shout over at him.

"What do you intend to do Master?" She seemed a bit concerned, for her Master and Lumiere.

He stopped, already in the doorway, and looked over his shoulder at her. "I'm bringing him back." Then, he abruptly left.


End file.
